To the right is a neighborhood bar, which has been there again for 90 or 100 years.
Here are the two spaces.
The curb cut has been here forever.
We're just a new block installed at the time I took these photographs.
The garages are in the background and the bar is to the right.
just another view of the open air parking spaces this is hollywood street there are the six homes
under construction the back end of the bars to the right so more photographs looking westbound
or reed street mr mccann lives directly across the street photographs just depicting the placing
of the placards for notice of today's hearing uh plans pretty straightforward we do have streets
apartment approval. Vehicles were able to pull in, back out without getting into the street
and then heading west on Reed Street. Some other views of the parking area, but this is the
photograph that I told you is somewhat dated. You can see it was three-car garage at one point
and the foreground is Hollywood Street.
Can you, I'm sorry, can you make that a little bigger or is it?
Sure. Which section did you want to see?
The older picture that you had.
That one, yes.
The bar is in the background.
Hollywood Street is here.
And you can see it's a three-bay garage.
Again, not a great photograph.
That's the only angle we could find.
But that's the best proof of what it used to be.
so that's a presentation uh basically pretty straightforward wait a minute here's the streets
department approval indicating that turning radius uh works and we do have their approval
so just in summary uh we're looking to legalize um two open air spaces which have been in existence
and Mr. McCann can back me up on that for at least 50 years and possibly longer.
for at least 50 years and possibly longer.
In fact, Mr. McCann bought the property in 2017,
In fact, Mr. McCann...
has been using it as parking spaces since then.
And prior owner, Mr. Gibson, who the McCann family knows,
also used this area for parking.
We're not affecting any development of any adjacent properties,
not affecting any lighter air for any adjacent properties.
Basically, it's consistent with use for over 50 years.
It's in a CMX2 district adjacent to a bar and adjacent to two other garages on Hollywood Street.
And with that, I'd ask my client to unmute himself to adopt my testimony.
Mr. McCann, can you raise your hand and be on mute it, please?
Morning, Mr. McCann.
hi good morning could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
first name is james j-a-m-e-s last name is mccann m-c-c-a-n-n swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed counsel thank you mr
chairman uh mr mccann were you on the call when i presented your uh request for two open air
parking spaces yes i was and uh how long have those parking spaces been in existence uh i would
say seven at least 70 years right and how long have you and your family lived on the block directly
across the street from these spots 50 years i have okay no further questions mr mccann thank you very
much thank you questions from questions from the board you have a question so these these were
garages that were
from the 50s
or whatever? Is that what it is?
It's kind of
hard to imagine that they were actually
garages for cars because
1950 cars were like
I agree.
I guess the only other concern is
how does one
regulate
that only
microcars or compact cars parked there? How does that get regulated?
I don't mean to be flippant, but I guess just common sense-wise, I mean,
the McCanns live across the street, and they're going to keep compact cars there because anything
larger, I mean, you still have, it looks like maybe a foot or two to come out further, but
I don't think that they're in the habit
look I can't guarantee it Mr. Johns
but I can't
guarantee that they're
in the habit of parking anything
larger than what you see in these photographs
and we didn't
set this photograph up just to show you
compact cars this is what is
usually in the spots
so what is considered
a compact car
like in terms of
measurements i mean the parking spaces generally it's you know certain length and width that
they're looking for right so this is considered um so different just because of the area
where these are located or i don't know if i'll answer your question but the width of the lot is
17 feet. So right now there's a compact car in there and the parking space outline is 15 feet
and you have front and back area within that envelope available. And you also have some
area to the front of the envelope and to the rear. So when we have a typical parking spot,
The drawings that I see are usually in the 17 to 18 feet depth.
I mean, the lot is 17 feet.
If, as Mr. John says, we park a larger vehicle, or Mr. McHann or his family parks a larger
vehicle there, he certainly has room based on the subcompact car to move forward, and
there's going to be some room at the back.
But I don't want to stand before this board and tell you that there has never been a larger
car in this spot.
And I would never do that.
But it has been in existence, as Mr. McCann said, for 70 years.
And there have been those situations that I can bring Mr. McCann back on it and ask him the questions, whether he's ever gotten a complaint from anybody about parking a larger car there.
If that would be helpful.
If that would be helpful.
I guess what I'm seeing is, you know, the picture you show from the archives, if you will, or archival picture is like, it looks like it's an enclosed, like, garage.
I guess.
Oh, absolutely.
And then at some point, that garage goes away.
And now we have these two spaces.
So when we talk about the 70 years that the spaces have been here, was it just when it was an enclosed garage or after the garages went away?
Do we know that? I mean, how long are we talking about that this has been an open air?
I think Mr. McCann said that he's been on the block and his family for 50 years.
so it's been open air for 50 years
and I thought he
intimated that it was even
70 but I don't want to
I don't want to punch words I could bring them back
more to make sure right yeah
he said 70 and I'm like okay
I'm not sure how we okay
yeah the questions
yeah I just
want to confirm these are public parking
spaces and not for private
use correct
no no these are
This is owned, when Mr., this property, 1353, he owns this ground.
He bought it from a neighbor on the block, a Mr. Gibson, who also used the area for parking.
So it's deeded to him.
We have a deed to the property.
1353 South Hollywood
from Rosemary Gibson
Mr. Gibson's son to James McCann
and the Gibsons
owned it since 1980
and they live across the street
is that what it is?
yeah Mr. McCann
lives directly across the street
so his address is the 2900 block
of Reed Street directly across
the street
so it i'll just bring you to the zoning map so if this is cmx2 the the blue uh rectangle is the
parking space he lives literally directly across the street and his and his sister lives on the
street and his mother lives on the street any other questions for the board questions or
comments from our attorney? Not at this time, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chair, comments from the virtual
audience? There are no hands, Chair. Planning Commission. Thank you, Chairman, and good
morning. David Fecto with the City Planning Commission. Chairman and board members, the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the CMX2 commercial mixed-use zoning at this location.
The appellant requests to legalize two undersized existing parking spaces.
We will note that there is no enforcement mechanism that exists that would prevent someone from parking a vehicle other than a compact car in these spaces.
A full-length car or truck would overhang the sidewalk and block access to the sidewalk for pedestrians.
The parking area appears to be large enough for one parking space, not two.
the city planning commission recommends the board grant the special exception for the proposed
non-accessory parking space limited to one parking space and deny the proposed use variance for two
compact spaces mr clinton i'm going to hold this and take this to executive session next wednesday
we're going to have a conversation with the board members and and take a look at this okay
Understood. Thank you. We will definitely we'll definitely vote on this next Wednesday at 930 a.m.
Thank you very much.
Number 17, MI 2024-005-319-2500 Federal Street. Joseph Vaccaro is the attorney.
Joseph Vaccaro is coming in as a panelist.
Mr. Vaccaro.
Good morning. Can you hear me?
I can, Mr. Vaccaro.
Could you put your video on?
Can you see me?
I can. Please state your name
and spell for the stenographer.
Good morning. My name is Joseph Vaccaro, V-A-C-C-A-R-O, Attorney for the Applicants Gentiana and Orgesi Dinach.
Good morning. My name is Joseph Vaccaro,
V-A-C-C-A-R-O.
We are affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
I notice there is support from the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition of a vote of 5 to 1.
Our Vice Chair has a few questions, sir.
Good morning, Mr. McGarrow. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to his accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
They were uploaded.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you very much. If I may share my screen.
I'm looking for the document here.
One moment, please.
Coming up now.
can you see that? Okay. Essentially, this is an application to permit the use of this property,
which is zoned as I-2, to permit this property to be used for a takeout and eat-in restaurant
with two apartments above and a roof deck. As I said, the property is zoned as I-2.
Gentiano and her husband, Orgesi Dinage, purchased the property on January 9th, 2023.
That's when they acquired the property.
And the property is an empty shell at this point, as I will show you shortly.
Scrolling up, these are some photographs of what the property looks like now.
It's a single-story, empty shell of a building, assuming that, and hopefully if we get the board's variance after today's proceeding, my clients intend to have this structure demolished and build up the structure that I have shown you in that first photograph, which I'll get back to again.
This is an outside view. It's a corner property. This section here where my cursor is with this garage door, this is on Federal Street. This is 2500 Federal Street. This, where these vehicles are parked, this is 25th Street.
So this is a corner view of the current property.
Here's the front view of the property.
Here's the view from 25th Street.
If you see the second floor, this would be on 2502.
So the second story is not part of our property.
This is the neighborhood property at 2502.
Another view of the current structure.
et cetera.
Moving down
to the rendition,